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conq writes "BusinessWeek has an interesting blog entry on Apple's 'iPod Express table', where they streamline the sale of iPods in their store. From the article: 'But the best part was that the Apple Geniuses behind the table had wireless gizmos for scanning credit cards, and Apple had worked out a totally wireless, paperless checkout process, called EasyPay. Once scanned, they advise you that the receipt will be in your inbox within an hour (since I'm already a registered Apple customer, they didn't even need to take my email or other information).'"

I see how this is an interesting concept, and maybe leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, but unless an ipod is the type of thing you buy every couple of days on a whim, it doesn't seem that useful...

the most you're probably going to get is one a year; you really don't need everything to be completely streamlined.

the most you're probably going to get is one a year; you really don't need everything to be completely streamlined.

Apple plans to sell considerably more than one a year, so they may be very pleased with everything being completely streamlined.

Obviously I haven't read the article, but I wonder how good an emailed receipt is - will my spam filter trash it, can I use it to declare theft with my insurance company etc.

I'm spending my days helping people getting their transactions and processes optimized with the help of computer systems, so I admire this concept. But there's the old saying about paperless offices making about as much sense as paperless toilets...

You still have that option. Just walk to the back of the store with your wad of cash (try not to get mugged on the way) and you can happily pay in any denomination of legal tender. No personal information required.

They are just trying to find a way to reduce the lineup at a busy time. Is that such a bad thing?

nah. whats bad is i bought an iPod service agreement using this 2 months ago and still haven't received my receipt. that was my attempt at saving trees. never again until they can prove that it actually works.

Given that you have the iPod and the service agreement, why is it an issue? You can prove with your bank statement, if need be, that you spent an amount of money at the store equal to the iPod plus service agreement, and Apple knows that.

You still have that option. Just walk to the back of the store with your wad of cash (try not to get mugged on the way) and you can happily pay in any denomination of legal tender. No personal information required.

But they'll still pester me for that personal information, as well as the personal information of every last person in line ahead of me and I'm a crotchety old curmudgeon. Bah!!!

They are just trying to find a way to reduce the lineup at a busy time. Is that such a bad thing?

If you don't like the way that they do business, just fuck right off out of the store. You don't have to be there in the first fucking place! Nobody will give a shit, least of all Apple, but you can feel like you've made your stand if you really want to.

What's all this about making a stand?

I was just expressing an opinion. Gosh, sorry if my annoyance with Apple's check-out procedures challenged your religion or something.

I'll never complain about anything ever again, no matter how asinine it is, especially

The easypay line was an OPTION to help handle the extra traffic for the holidays. Some folks are willing to give up an email address for the convenience of skipping the big line for the short, streamlined, grab-your-ipod-and-go line. It's still your choice, so quit your bitching.

The easypay line was an OPTION to help handle the extra traffic for the holidays.

An OPTION that was needed because they take about six weeks per customer to check people out in the regular line, due to the massive volume of personal information they insist on gathering, their sluggish handling of sales, and the AppleCare plans they try to "upsell" at the counter.

Apple uses your information for two things... to find out where to put new stores via your zip code, and to make any future service for your product seamless. You walk into a store to see a Genius (free personal tech support! Holy shitballs!), they scan the serial number. Done. They know when you purchased your product (no need for a receipt to prove warranty!), and they know your name and phone number to call you when service is done. It is never sold to anyone else, it's merely for Apple to provide better customer service, period. Not sure why these are considered "bad", but I suppose we are all entitled to our opinions...

Just how many times are people going to the apple store to buy a $200 to $500 product that it really benefits them to take the time to put in their information to make checkout faster?

Obviously they're in a pilot program now, using this system for only iPod sales. If it works well, and if people view it favorably, they'll start using it for sales of all products at all their stores, from $3 screen protectors to $3000 Cinema Displays.

Apple Stores seem to always get it right in general. I'm talking about the official Apple Stores here. For example, my partner had to get a minor problem fixed on his PowerBook. He showed up at the Genius Bar, they took it apart in front of us, fixed the problem, and we went on our way. They never once asked for a receipt or any other form of identification. No hassles at all, no proof of warranty, nothing.

Those days are gone, though. The Genius Bar proved popular enough that they needed to create an electronic queue, so now when you want their help, you must first sign up for a spot in line on a web browser using... your Apple ID.

Heh,never been to the Genius Bar in Soho, NYC eh? Used to be 1 -2 hour wait was minimum. Now I think you even need to make some sort of apointment....Don't know how that store is run now, as I was send screaming from there several times. It is a mob scene on normal shopping days.

The Pittsburgh (Shadyside) Apple store has helped me out exactly once in person, when I asked for a replacement rubber foot for my PowerBook. All other times they've merely acted as a conduit between me and Apple support centers, often with a wait of 30-60 minutes.

Reportedly you get better service if you buy "ProCare," which is $100 on top of the $350 Apple charges for AppleCare to begin with. "Good" service doesn't come cheap I guess.

I will say i've never been in a brick-and-mortar apple store (not one in my area), but is it really cumbersome enough trying to buy something from them that they need a specific 'express lane' for buying ipods?

I admit it. I'm an iPod fan-boy. And as such I've been in the Apple store shortly after releases of iPods quite a few times and the demand for the newly released iPods are just insane. If they can speed up that process then that's good for both the customer and the store.

I was in a brick and mortar Apple store during the cristmas rush. Alot of people were just coming in for iPods. So anyone who wanted an ipod went to the ipod kisok in the apple store and were taken care of there. I saw two Customer Reps at the time and they were working through customers very fast. The line was 6-8 people deep but I would swear the wait was under ten minutes for any given people.
Normally the Appple store in my area is fun to browse, wander thorugh and try things out. It was designed so people can browse without feeling crowded or harried. Converting one of the sidewall sections into a dedicated sales point for a high volume product makes perfect sense to me.
Because of the ipod specific section, the rest of the store retained its charm and usefulness, i.e. there wasn't a swarm of people all over the store asking "Where do we get ipods" interfering with people who wanted to buy other things (computers, cameras, software, etc etc).
Thought of another way: It was a clever form of crowd control to keep the store manageable.

I went to Toronto (actually Yorkdale) for a conference this past September, and I arrived in town at my hotel room at about 11 PM on a Tuesday. Bored stiff since no one else I knew was in town yet, I went across the street to get a latte at the Yorkdale shopping centre, in which, to my great joy, I discovered an Apple store.As I said, it was before noon on a Tuesday, and the mall was dead. I probably saw less than a hundred customers wandering around the mall, and for the size of the place, that's not much.

Seriously, were you just looking for some round-about way to dig at Apple?
Um, didn't you know, that like bands, tech companies cease to be cool once they have a sucess... Apple is no longer thought of an an underdog (with the iPod) amd as such is no longer cool!!! Pretty soon Apple will be hated like Microsoft and maybe google!!!

So how secure is the encryption? I'm not sure I want my credit card number floating around in the clear, and while I imagine Apple did it right, the article mentions that he thinks this should be the future of all business transactions. I don't trust the local mom&pop bookstore to have their encryption together. On the other hand, if it's going to be some black-box solution that's actually set up right out of the box, it's kind of idiot proof, no?

The idea of having no reciept until I get home doesn't bother me, although what happens if they enter the email address wrong for new customers? A mis-type of the associate and all of a sudden you can't return your new toy if it doesn't work?

>> I'm not sure I want my credit card number floating around in the clear

Hand it to the waiter, and you have your card with all of the security numbers printed thereon in the clear. I'm not defending Apple's system, just pointing out that parties interested in getting your credit card information can do so with better fidelity and ease than attempting to break into a POS (point of sale) system.

So how secure is the encryption? I'm not sure I want my credit card number floating around in the clear

Why is it, when we are faced with a new(ish) technology, we believe we must throw out all the rules we've learned with previous technology.

Wired machines transmit encrypted. Why would that suddenly not be the case with wireless? Further, I would hazard a guess that there are standards in place for sensitive numbers that banks must follow ( which, if you are using their hardware, the cc machine would fal

But seriously, "all paperless" that can't be good. I might be old school but I like a papertrail when giving someone my money.

Why can't paperless be good? I am an architect for the wireless infrastructure and citrix systems in a paperless hospital.

We take your information at the bedside, wirelessly. Keep your records solely digitally. We also bill you digitally and give you a receipt if you request one. Even your signature is captured once, digitally.

Because this is/., where everybody knows that the world is evil and you can only trust yourself - everybody else is out to steal you blind. It's the home of the tinfoil hat conspiracy gang, of people who have nothing else to do but sit around and dream up complicated ways of how the military/industrial/governmental complex is working to reduce everyone to nothing but a number - a tightly controlled, paperless, inconsequential number. It's the conspiracy gang that says that the

Yep, that's officially old school. I got tired of paper, paper everywhere, and now for the majority of my bills, I just get a reminder in my inbox that they're online. My bank statement is online. And I just save copies of my receipts as PDFs. Not only is it easier to file away, but it's also easier to search through if the need arises.Besides, the money is mostly a digital concept anyway, since you're just moving bits from your account into theirs. It's not like it's truly backed by silver or anything

Yes, panic because WPA might be snooped, recorded and the encryption hammered off at an off site super computer by a l33t haxxor.

Or you can panic because, for the last 40 years, paper copies of your credit card transactions, with your signature, card number, exp date and purchase details, have always been available to the legions of underpaid service people who handle your retail/resturant/telephone purchases. Carbon copies were often left in the trash.

Seriously, if you think introducing wireless technology to the credit card transaction is opening things up for fraud, you are seriously shroomin. It's already fantastically easy to obtain your information.

But it is entertaining to hear such panic mongering from someone who has undoubtedly made telephone credit card purchases, and we all know how secure the POTS network is.

But it is entertaining to hear such panic mongering from someone who has undoubtedly made telephone credit card purchases, and we all know how secure the POTS network is.

You seem to be quite confident in your assumptions about a person you have probably never met before.

I understand him completely and would rather not see my personal info emerging everywhere, being transmitted wirelessly and especially, if I make a purchase, I would like it to end then and there: pay in cash (or electronically, so be it)

My mom ordered something from a small Mom & Pop store in the midwest somewhere. The packaging consisted of shredding from their office paper. I was shuffling through it and managed to piece together 3/4 of a receipt with credit car number and signature on it before I got bored. I think having small stores (or big ones) use a pre-packaged credit card processing system with no paper would be a step up in many cases.

But seriously, "all paperless" that can't be good. I might be old school but I like a papertrail when giving someone my money.

Yeah, me too, but most Americans pay with credit cards these days. I prefer a paper trail too (cash) but most of my American customers live on debt. And if someone isn't who they say they are, guess who gets stuck with no merchandise and no money to pay for it. That's right... me, the merchant. What you are complaining about, ID theft, is what merchants call a chargeback. You,

The key to success is to make it extremely easy for your customers to do business with you. Get 'em in, get what they need, and check 'em out. Happy customers = high profits.

I am very impatient when it comes to poor customer service. I have walked across the street to another electronics store when some stupid clerk said "Uh, only one guy has the key to the hard drive cabinet, and he's not around right now."

I purchased a 4gb nano from the apple store here in San Diego (Fashion Valley). Quick, Easy, and paperless. Problem is that I never received a receipt via email. Be sure that they READ BACK your email address if you go this route.

Make it so someone picks one up, and is checked out and gone within a few minutes. Less time for them to be standing there thinking about the purchase, therefore more likely for them to make the buy on an impulse.

Speaking of Apple, I was in the store the other day asking about using a Mac Mini for editing home movies and making general use of iLife. Next thing I know they are telling me I have to upgrade the RAM to 1G (from 512) for $150 and I should really buy a G5 or Powerbook for that purpose. I think I would rather buy an HD video camera and use a PC instead of giving that much money to Appl

Except that I already have a PC that is faster than the iMac. Even if I didn't, it would be a lot cheaper to upgrade it (new MB, CPU and RAM), than buy an Apple product.

So what? The issue you raised is not one of tricking out an old PC, but buying a new computer from a system builder. It doesn't matter if that builder is Dell or Apple, you were the one who mistakenly thought an entry-level machine would suit the needs of a movie production studio (however amateur your home movies might be:-).

The question has to do with the software - the iMac comes with sw that has good reviews. I'm willing to pay extra for a turn key experience, but not $1000+ for conventional video editing.

Nothing about video editing is very conventional as of yet. I'd say maybe in 5 years, but by then HD will be increasingly common and that means even more resources will be required to manipulate it, so maybe 10 years out is a better target for a budget system that does what you want. Come on, are you seriously bitching about a machine preferring over 512MB RAM when editing video? How fast do you expect the Mac mini's HD to be doing all that swapping? It's like you're blaming Apple because you have absolutely no concept of the amount of data you want to push around.

With the exception of one person, they evidently figured I was a subhuman PC user from the start, so why waste time not getting the expected ritualistic acknowledgement of the self-annointed...

You deserved it. You clearly came in convinced in what you needed and refusing to accept that you could be wrong. Even in your telling of the story you come out looking like a prick, so I wager in the impartial version you were such a huge ass they couldn't wait to get out of the store. Don't blame Apple because you're intent on being a bad customer. They did the right thing and it is up to you to prove them wrong by buying a PC setup elsewhere that can do what you want for less money. Good luck with that.

WOW! Re-vo-lu-tion! You mean like the ones waiters in Europe have been using for *ages*? It's actually kind of nice because they do not take your credit card back to the register. They swipe it at your table and hand it back to you.

What's even funnier is that those "wireless gizmos for scanning credit cards" are powered by a version of Windows CE [slashdot.org]. So, apparently, Apple's retail "revolution" is brought to you by the Microsoft corporation.

Well, the UK they call it "Chip & PIN" and in New Zealand (where they've had this and wireless card readers for years) it's called EFTPOS. It's also probably got a different name in every country in Europe cos they all have it. It's just a card payment system where you put a PIN number in instead of signing the paper. Pretty simple.

However, I doubt apple have rewritten the credit card company's rules to introduce this system into the US, so they're probably just getting people to sign those little gid

This isn't all that bright, on either party's side.From the retailer perspective, a client can *always* claim to have never received the reciept, and that their invoice was deleted in the computer. Mistakes do happen, and no retailer in their right frame of mind would think that they will *never* lose an invoice.

Many retailers calculate nightly sales, etc, but do NOT include customer names in their nightly book-keeping reports. Regardless of the reality, customers do not trust computers to never, ever los

thats only a problem with cash purchase. Which I believe does generate a perper reciept.Your cashed check, or credit card statment will act as a proof of purchase as well."Heck, you could even have problems getting out of the mall!"

Good point. If security stoped me(and they would have to do a pretty good job becasue I don't stop just becasue they ask)they would need to go all the way back to the Apple store, who would have to verify that the items identification number had indeed been sold to me.

I can't wait till some "poor" looking person gets beat with nightsticks in the Apple store after a new employee fails to find the ID number in the computer and the salesperson who did the sale is on break:) The resulting lawsuit would be classic.

I don't know about this being the wrong approach from the retailer side.The biggest downside, as you say, is the customer service perspective. If a customer wants a receipt right then and there, you (as retailer) had better be ready to provide it. Having said that, most people probably just buy into the process and go with it. If you look at that customer service risk compared to the aggregate savings in store labor hours in the big picture, this is probably very smart for the retailer. The customer usua

> Once scanned, they advise you that the receipt will be in your inbox within an hour (since I'm already a registered Apple customer, they didn't even need to take my email or other information).

Since I'm not already a registered Apple customer, any clerktrooper asking me for my email, snail address, or any other data not required to complete the transaction when I try to purchase products gets the old Jedi Mind Trick: you place an appropriate number of Federal Reserve Notes (or other bits of nicely-decorated paper) in your hand, wave your hand in front of the clerk, and you say "You don't need to see my identification".

If it works, the clerktrooper realized they're more interested in the pretty paper in your hand than the toy - so you leave the paper behind and walk out with a shiny new toy.

If it doesn't work, you keep the pretty paper and leave a confused clerktrooper holding the toy.

It's a self-reinforcing system. The Empire demands that clerktroopers ask for identification -- but clerktroopers who follow orders and resist the Jedi Mind Trick ultimately find themselves scheduled for termination. The tighter the Imperial grip, the more sales slip through their fingers.

...the busy holiday season aside, is it really that important to reduce to mere seconds the time it takes to purchase a high-tech high-sticker gadget by dispatching a platoon of wirelessly-networked sales associates? C'mon, are you rushing to catch a plane?

What makes sense for Avis at the airport doesn't necessarily work in all retail settings.

I'm sure someone has a theorm that shows the inverse relationship between line length and the chance that any given person will queue up.
While the too-long line length may be different for everyone, there is a certain length at which no one else will join...

There's also the problem of store security. If the cashier fails to deactivate any anti-shoplifting devices and I trigger them as I walk out of the store, how am I supposed to prove that I paid for it?

That's why I always get a paper receipt when I pay-at-the-pump for gasoline.

Actually, many retailers can retrieve an order by credit card. While doing so isn't as secure for the retailer as a physical receipt, it does mean that the retailer can exchange a faulty product without holding the customer to task for losing a tiny piece of paper. Since a customer making a return or exchange is probably unhappy, executing the transaction quickly and conveniently is very crucial.

Their newfangled system didn't work at the Apple store where I went. The guy with the credit card reader just stared at me, even after I asked him about product availability. Several staff members told me they were out of stock for a certain product, when in fact they were not out of stock (The guy behind me in line, who didn't talk to the floor staff, got the last one.. that sucked).

And there were still fairly large lines. It wasn't that there were a ton of people there.. the transactions were slow because the cashiers had to explain the email service, then type in the email (if applicable), etc.

It shouldn't bother me but it still irritates me when I read articles about apple "inventing" something else. This isn't even apple's fault, it's just the odd fanbase they have.
I am not sure what's different here. You pay with a credit card and get no paper receipt. That's better? And wireless, how does that help the customer? For all I know my local walmart's card reader is wireless, who knows, who cares?
Anyway in my state (and most others) it would be illegal to make a sale without a paper receipt with the return policy also give out.

1. The Apple retail shop in Chicago uses this as a way to offer customers an 'opt out' of waiting in line, and you can buy anything, as long at its with a credit card.2. As a victim of identity theft, those tinfoil-hats who worry about wi-fi snooping - a far greater threat is the clerk at the super-discount tech store (cough) COMPUSA (cough) who simply takes the credit card receipt for your newly-purchased stack of blank CDs and pulls it from his/her drawer at clock-out time, then writes down the number and (if they are sharp) even the 'security code' from the back of the card. Then, they purchase $9,600 in video equipment and downloadable software from Avid and Sony, and even if Visa is right on them, the purchases are complete before the victim arrives home to find a "we detected unusual activity on your account..." message on his answering machine. Lose sleep over the 9 months it will take to get that mess straightened out. Oh, and guess what - the US attorneys office won't prosecute, not will the state or local cops. Even the store dropped the thing. I couldn't even trick the Visa people into telling me where some of the contraband was shipped to (they set up an alternate ship-to adress, thanks to a stupid Visa service operator, which is how Visa ultimately had to admit that *I* had not bought all that software and hardware and was just trying to dodge paying) so I could ask the cops to pay the thief a visit. It never occurred to them that a Mac/Linux/OpenBSD guy would have no use at all for Windows video-editing software. Damages under $10k are not worth going after, apparently.3. Apple does not compete in embedded systems like handheld credit-card processors, so it is no surprise their units don't run Mac OS. Yes, there are *nix/BSD strains that probably do, but I bet Apple just bought off-the-shelf system. Would it even make sense for them to develop a whole new line of products in an industry they don't even choose to compete in, just so they could use their own stuff? I think that would by way to 'not invented here' for them.

I'm now where near that trusting of Apple (or any corp), but if this system allows me to avoid a little kid trying to get me to buy a 3 year-extended warrenty on a pencil and then hands me a 30ft long receipt (when only buying a pencil), then sign me up!!!! You can have my info, if you save me from that crap. (Best Buy you annoying bastards!!!)

I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut. I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. Man, I'll just give you money, then you give me the doughnut. End of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I just can't imagine a scenario where I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. Some skeptical friend: "Don't even act like I didn't get that doughnut, I've got the documentation right here. Oh wait, it's at home, in the file... under D... for doughnut".

Comedians write off EVERYTHING.
Seriously, EVERYTHING,
A feature comic (the middle act; you're anywhere from 2-10 years into comedy) makes around $15-23k a year gross. They write off a donut, their mileage, their shaving cream they bought on the road, everything. 1099 baby.
The expense report is them reporting it to the IRS. The same purpose we have expense reports. (well, that and someone pays us back what we spent. Hooray for companies!)
It could be one of the toughest and loneliest existences out there,

I find the fact that on the Apple online store you can one-click purchase anything quite worrying. Using the online store you can configure a &pound;16,000 ($27,500ish) Power Mac, something I most certainly do not want to be able to purchase on a whim or by mis-clicking.

if you're seriously worried about accidentally signing into the Apple store, activating 1-click purchasing, configuring a PowerMac, ordering it, and not cancelling the order... then just step away from your internets now and seek medical attention.

Apple has created their own version of the department store perfume people. Instead of spraying you with perfume, they can just throw an iPod into a bag for you and ask if you want to ring it up or shop some more.

What's next will be that software will come with your computer even if you don't need it or want it. You'll pay for it when you pay for the computer, even if you don't need it. Oh... wait, nevermind, Microsoft beat them to that one.

The 12-for-a-penny music services like BMG and Columbia House were still not a terrible deal, back in the day. Even with the overpricing and handling fees of 'regular price' discs, after your contractual obligations were out of the way it still only worked out to $7 or $8 per CD.

The main drawback of the system, assuming you remembered to decline the club selection when you didn't want it each month, is the main drawback of iTunes Music Store and the like today: many popular acts are simply not available. Good luck finding The Beatles or Metallica anywhere but at your local brick-and-mortar CD store, for instance.

The real drawback of the system is that artists don't make a penny of royalties off of CD-club sales: it's considered a promotional album as opposed to a retail album. It's standard boilerplate on all label contracts.
Which means if you're going to rip off the artists, download the album from Kazaa because it's actually a better for the artist. Labels use P2P traffic analysis to decide which artists get better budgets for promotions and music videos, which can make or break an album.

I can buy thousands of computers that run Windows. I can buy, what, eight models that run Mac OS X?I can buy thousands of MP3 players that play the 50,000 songs I rent for $5 per month or the 50 songs I bought for 79 cents each. I can buy three MP3 players that play Apple's music and video downloads.

How exactly is Apple more consumer friendly?

(Before you start calling me a shill, I own a PowerBook and an iPod. I'm just curious about how you say Apple is any nicer toward the consumer than Micro dollar sig

How many real-world use cases are there for MP3 players? Is this number closer to three, or closer to "thousands"?

Apple is consumer friendly because they try to keep consumers from wasting their time on meaningless decisions. If you want to listen to a few tunes while jogging, the iPod shuffle is for you. If you want to have your entire music collection accessible at all times, the standard iPod. If you're somewhere in between, maybe the iPod nano is a good ch

I can confirm for a fact that the devices are indeed windows. I had a similar conversation with the kid at my local Apple store who also confirmed the device was running Windows CE/Mobile (or whatever they call it these days). He did qualify his answer by saying the thing would lock up constantly:).

Or handing your credit card to the waitress to take off to the other room and do god-knows-what with it! Oh no!Just carbon-copy paper or even a pen and paper coupled with your credit card can be trouble in the hands of a corrupt individual. The technology really isn't the problem here. In fact, since it's not using RFID or anything to look for the card itself-- presumably it needs to be swiped-- I would say this is probably more secure, since there's less chance that the employee even sees the credit car

you should worry more about employees being so bored they don't even check your details than being so enthusiastic they'll break the encryption and/or modify hardware to steal a number they could get just by opening their eyes (and all the time working under a false identity to avoid being traced).

Seriously, Apple has always tried to create a 'high end' in personal computers; whether or not you think they were successful is a matter of opinion, but the brand recognition alone is definitely in the To

It's interesting, but I think the key to understanding this problem is something called "extrinsic costs." The credit card companies get stuck with no bill if the bar has your card stolen - you get stuck with a hassle, and the store that accepted your card not from you gets no money for the purchase. Why would the card company care?

...at least some of the risk is mitigated by the fact that it's done at the table and you never lose sight of your credit card.

I almost wonder if you were trying to be funny... The fact that you never lose sight of your card is a major risk reduction over the old system. One of the most common forms of credit card fraud is employees scanning the info in order to create counterfeit cards--far more common than any form of database cracking.